Summer Days
by Those-Heavenly-Tears
Summary: Its summer; Hinata's bored. She spends each day learning more about each of her fellow kunoichi. Slight NaruHina. "Sakura"


Hinata walked down the streets of Konoha. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and Hinata harbored a beautiful smile on her face as she walked aimlessly throughout the pebbled streets of the bright Fire Country capital. Her eyes were glittering. She seemed to be different today. A new-found confidence was clearly shown on her face. It was also shown in her clothes. Today she wore a lilac sundress, and on her arms were a thousand different bangles. In her ears were some new earrings, which were dangling silver. To most pedestrians, she was the usually shy Hyuuga heiress they had come to recognize easily. But now, she was a bud that had bloomed into a lovely blossom. No more baggy clothes for her, for she feared a heat-stroke with her lavender jacket and baggy-knee-high pants. Instead, her dress blew in the breeze, showing off all her envious curves that most women and girls would simply die for. Most men gave her questionable looks as she walked past.

Suddenly, her eyes grazed upon a figure. One with apple-green eyes, and bubble-gum-pink hair. She almost let herself frown, but instead, she continued smiling. "Sakura!" Hinata yelled out. She waved her right hand above her head and Sakura turned towards her.

"Hinata?" Sakura said quietly. "Wow," Sakura thought to herself. ", Hinata is acting so bold today. And she looks so different...Like a different person."

Hinata walked her way over to Sakura. "Hello, Sakura." Hinata said in a sing-song voice. "How are you today?"

"Oh," Sakura replied, being stirred from her thoughts. "I'm good. I was just let out of the hospital today by Lady Tsunade and I was about to head home for lunch." Sakura smiled. "Maybe you could accompany me? I always wanted a friend to come over on a day like this. What do you say?"

Hinata grinned. "I'd love to!"

So, the two young women set out on their way to Sakura's home. They admired the bright blue sky and the warm day. They hoped for everyday to be like this one, a beautiful day shared by two friends.

"Sakura, do you need to pick up anything for lunch? Maybe some rice or vegetables or some dumplings..." Hinata's voice trailed off. She glanced at Sakura, who was pondering through her mind.

She felt like she was forgetting something.

Suddenly, Sakura smacked her hands together. "Now that I think about it, Mom did want me to pick up some things." Sakura looked over at Hinata. "You wouldn't mind if we stopped by the grocery store real quick, would you? It'll only take a minute."

Hinata nodded yes. "I wouldn't mind, Sakura. It won't take that long."

So, they detoured to the left to venture to the Konoha grocery store. Normally, they would just go to the market if they were in a hurry. But today, they just went to the grocery store because they were in no hurry at all.

They walked into the store which was brightly lit and held only a few people. Sakura and Hinata walked into each aisle and picked out some things. Soon, they're hands got full, so Hinata went to get a basket. She found one quickly in the front of the store, but as she reached towards it, another hand laid gently on top of hers. She looked up to meet bright blue eyes and spiky blond hair.

"Naruto-kun."

He smiled. "Hey, Hinata!" Naruto replied. He looked down at her attire, and blushed lightly. "Wow, you're not wearing your regular outfit today. You look kind of nice." He rubbed the back of his in embarrassment.

Hinata blushed and peered at their hands on the shopping basket, which were still touching gently. "Thank you, Naruto-kun. You look nice as well." She sneaked a look at his clothing choice and blushed harder. Even though he was just wearing his normal orange training pants, his black t-shirt with the red swirl on it, with the mesh wiring under it, she thought that he looked nice. His clothes showed his muscles. "Oh, my..." Hinata thought to herself. She felt lightheaded.

But Naruto brought her out of her mindscape. "So, Hinata, what are you doing here?" he asked her. He finally took his hand off hers, and reached for another basket, which he took in his hand and hung by his side. He took another one and handed it to her, and she blushed, but took it from him, depositing her items in it carefully.

"Oh, I and Sakura are going to have lunch together at her house, but she had some things to get so we went here. But we forgot to get a basket and soon our hands got full, so I went to get one. And here you are..." her voice trailed off. She cleared her throat and looked up at Naruto, whom loomed over her like a hawk. Naruto was at least a foot or less tall then her.

Naruto smiled, which was his big grin, where he spread his lips away from his teeth, and closed his eyes. "Well, Hina, I was training and then I got hungry. I went to Ichiraku, but I forgot I hadn't picked up my paycheck from Obba-chan." Hinata giggled at Naruto's nickname for the Lady Hokage. " So, I went and got my paycheck, but I saw Sakura. So, I said hi, and somehow or another I angered her, so I don't think she wants see me. So, I got my paycheck, and thought about going back to Ichiraku, but I remembered my fridge was empty, so I headed here. And here you are!"

They laughed. "Hey, Hinata, maybe after you get done with your lunch with Sakura, maybe we could hang out? You know, go training, maybe we could go to Ichiraku, or you could make some of that delicious food you're awesome at making! And then, maybe we can go to my house and watch some TV. I have some board games, like Konopoly, and Scrabble, and I think I have all the pieces to Snakes and Ladders..." Naruto told her. He was smiling the entire time.

Hinata blushed. "Of course, Naruto-kun! I would love to!"

"Awesome! I'm going to avoid Sakura and finish up here, then go home and get a bath." Naruto waved goodbye. "I'll see you later! Bye!" And he walked off. Hinata watched him and smiled before slinging the basket happily in a circle, which resulted in almost everything falling out. She laughed and scrambled to pick up everything. She felt so lightheaded, and happy. She felt like sprawling herself on the floor and making grocery-angels. But instead, she walked her way to Sakura, a bright smile on her face.

"Whatever you do, Hinata, don't stare at my mom." Sakura said quietly. They had gotten done with shopping and Hinata didn't see Naruto the entire time. He sure was sly and sneaky. Just as a ninja should be. She smiled, and couldn't wait until their 'date' tonight. But then, she frowned.

"Why, Sakura?" Hinata asked, now curious.

"You'll see."

Hinata's eyes drifted in front of her. "I wonder what Sakura is talking about..." she thought silently to herself.

Soon, they arrived at Sakura's house. Sakura gathered all of the grocery bags in one hand and shoved the front door open with the other. "Mom, I'm home!" she yelled.

Sakura's house was small, but it was still very quaint. Hinata had always been used to her huge estate she lived, and had never been to a friend's house before, except for the occasional visit to Kiba's or Shino's, which houses looked exactly like hers. Hinata and Ten Ten were fair friends, considering the fact that TenTen and Neji had somewhat of a tiny little 'relationship' together. TenTen always went to the Hyuuga estate to pick up Neji if he was late, and sometimes the two girls would chat or TenTen would help Hinata with a simple household chore or to make a breakfast or lunch or dinner for her family. TenTen could barely boil water without ruining it before she came to Hinata. After about a week's worth of training in the culinary arts, TenTen could successfully make sandwiches and dumplings and rice balls and miso soup. Sometimes, they would make cookies, cakes, bowls of veggie ramen, and some onigiri. Almost everyday, the two made bentos for their friends. They usually gave them to Neji, Lee, Kiba and Shino and if they saw Ino that day, they would even make some for her, Chouji and Shikamaru. The two girl's friendship grew, yet Hinata never went to Ten Ten's home. And Hinata always wondered why...

"Oh, hello Sakura! I'm in the kitchen!" a voice yelled from one of the rooms in the house. It awakened Hinata's thoughts and her head popped up quickly in alarm.

"Come on, Hinata." Sakura whispered. Hinata nodded and they walked into the house.

Inside was even more pleasant-looking then the outside, Hinata thought to herself. The colors were warm, dark browns and deep reds, some light purples, and off-whites. Candle were scattered all over the house, on shelves near books (which Hinata thought was quit alarming), on the fireplace, on coffee tables, and next to chairs and couches. The house smelled of different scents, vanilla, razzberry, orange, apple, lilacs, satin...Hinata breathed in the new environment. It was all so...new!

She turned her attention back to Sakura, whom had started walking through a hallway. Hinata quickly scattered over to follow, nearly tripping in the process. On the walls in the hallway were tons of photos...Of a man with black hair and green eyes and a woman with pink hair and hazel eyes in front of the Hokage Mountain, which only had three heads. Of those two again in wedding attire. Of the two again with a pink haired girl in the women's arms, standing in the front of the house. Then, the man disappeared. Now, it was just the women and their daughter, standing in the kitchen cooking, in the living room reading, in the little girl's room, the women putting her asleep. But Hinata's favorite photo was a more current one, of the women, dressed in a short dress with long sleeves, the girl, which Hinata now discovered was Sakura, in her normal ninja attire and Lady Tsunade with her arms around them both, a cup of sake in her right hand, smiles on all of the women. Hinata's fingers lightly touched the photo and ran her fingers down its smooth surface.

Then, she continued to follow Sakura. Soon, they entered a brightly lit kitchen. It was yellow and sunny. It nearly blinded Hinata and she reached up to rub her eyes. But then she blinked a few times and got used to the pure brightness of the kitchen. A woman with long pink hair stood at the sink washing dishes, her back turned to Hinata and Sakura.

Sakura walked up to the table in the middle of the kitchen and dropped the grocery bags on it. Hinata walked up to the table and put hers on it as well. "Hey, Mom, I went to the grocery store and got some groceries. Is that okay?" Sakura said. She pulled out a chair from under the table and sat down. Hinata did as well, and propped her face up with her hand.

"Oh, thank you, Sakura. I needed some more rice for breakfast, and I was going to go tomorrow, but thank you so much." Sakura's mother replied.

"Oh, don't thank me, Mom! Thank Hinata! She was the one who offered we go there before we come here. If it's alright, can she stay for lunch?" Sakura told her mom. Her mother turned around and grabbed a rag to dry her hands off with.

"Really...?" Sakura's mother said. She laid the rag back down and smiled before walking over to Hinata and sticking her hand out to her. "Hello, Miss Hyuuga. I'm Haruno Mao. It's nice to meet you! Thank you so much for helping my little Saku-chan..." Mao's voice trailed off as she looked at Sakura, who had found an apple in one of the bags of groceries and had the juice all over her chin. Mao laughed. "...she can be such a tomboy sometimes." They shook hands.

Hinata resisted the urge to stare at Mao's face. She had a huge scar that drifted from the top of her forehead all the way to the bottom of her face. It was a light pink color and looked like it had been terribly painful.

"O-Oh pleased to meet you, Miss Haruno. And please, call me Hinata. I really don't want my clan status to influence our friendship." Hinata replied. Her eyes looked at the scar again. But she forced her eyes to look back up at Mao's. They were a soft hazel. Just like in the pictures...

But where was the man in the photos? And who was he?

"Alright then, Hinata-chan.", Mao smiled. "But if I call you that, you have to call me Mao, not Miss Haruno."

"Alright, Mao-chan.", Hinata smiled back.

"So, mom, when's lunch gonna be ready?" Sakura asked her mouth full of apple. Some pieces flew out of her mouth and landed on the table.

"Soon, soon, Saku-chan. Be patient and wipe up that apple chunk splatter you have on the table." Sakura blushed and swiped it away with her hand and it landed on the floor.

Hinata giggled lightly. "Mao-chan, may I help you?"

Mao looked surprised. She looked up from picking through the groceries and her eyes were wide open, her eyebrows flown up onto her shiny forehead. When she did that, her scar lengthened. "Y-You would help me cook?" she stuttered out. Hinata frowned.

"Yes, why not? I'm a fairly nice cook." Hinata replied, astonished at Mao's reaction at Hinata's offering.

"Yeah, Hinata's actually a great cook! She taught TenTen how to cook, and they nearly fed all Rookie Nine and Gai's Team while Naruto was gone!" Sakura yelled out. She blushed and looked away. "And Mom, ya know I can't cook to save my life." But Sakura looked back up and socked her fist in the air. "I'm more of a BAM! SHANNORO! kind of girl, so cooking isn't my style."

"Oh, Sakura-chan, it's not really that hard. I taught TenTen and you know how hopeless it seemed, yet I did it.", Hinata replied. She looked at Mao. "Is a short cooking lesson alright with you, Mao-chan?"

Mao was shaken from her thoughts. "I guess it wouldn't hurt. Then, if Saku-chan learns, maybe I won't have to pack her a daily bento! But, let's just hope it's not a lost cause."

Sakura blushed. "Mother!"

The three women laughed. Hinata smiled at the easy lifestyle the women had. A small cozy home, another lady to talk to when they had 'girl' problems...Hinata had never had that before. Her mother died during childbirth with her younger sister, Hanabi. Before Hanabi was born, though, Hinata and her mother, Miyazana were very close. Miyazana had long blue-black hair like Hinata, deep green eyes, and a beauty mark under her left eye. She was very beautiful. She loved to garden and press flowers in the big dictionary in the Hyuuga library. Whenever Hinata's father, Hiashi, went looking for the meaning of a word or it's spelling, he would flip through the dictionary and end up finding about a thousand different dry flowers between the pages. He would bring them to the girls and they would laugh. But when she got pregnant with Hanabi, she became very ill. She was strict on bed rest and even the Hyuuga psychiatrist couldn't find out was what was wrong. Hinata smiled sadly at the memory before closing her eyes and reaching up to wipe them.

Then she opened them and smiled. Just because her mother was dead didn't mean she was alone. She had become stronger, for herself, her father, Hanabi, Neji and her entire clan. She couldn't wait to prove how wonderful of a leader she was when she was named Head of the Hyuuga Clan. She was ecstatic for the day she turned eighteen and could finally serve her clan in the highest way...

Soon, the women got together and started to make the food. Mao went to another part of the kitchen to make some sweet dumplings. Hinata and Sakura sat at the table and made the easiest thing Hinata could think of--rolled sticky rice balls wrapped in seaweed. It was quite simple. You just roll the rice and then wrap the seaweed around it. It wasn't really that hard.

"I can't do it.", Sakura said. Hinata looked up from her nice round rice balls to the one in Sakura's hands. It was crumbled apart. Hinata sighed. "I ruined it, didn't I?"

"No, no, Sakura-chan. It's fine. It's fixable. Here." Hinata reached over and took the crumbled rice out of Sakura's hands and massaged it perfectly together again into the circle. She handed it back and Sakura pushed it away.

"Nah, Hinata. Thanks for helping, but I have to go clean up my room." Sakura made a bee-line out of the kitchen, yelling, "Call me down when you're done!" behind her.

Hinata finished with the rice balls and set them carefully on a glass platter that Mao had gotten out of the cabinet for her. Soon, Hinata joined Mao with making the sweet dumplings and the two finished quickly.

"Oh, Hinata-chan!" Mao cooed as she looked at the fine lunch they made. "You did a perfectly nice job! Oh, the rice balls look delicious and the sweet dumplings should be absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much for helping!" Hinata smiled at the praise. "Where is Saku-chan?"

"She went to clean her room. I think she got a little frustrated when making the food." Hinata replied.

Mao put her hands on her hips and tsk-tsked. "Saku-chan gets so worked up sometimes. I'm so sorry about her attitude." Mao cupped her hands to her mouth and yelled. "Haruno Sakura! Get down here, lunch is ready!" No response. They waited patiently, yet Sakura didn't come down.

"Ugh, that cherry-blossom. I'd better go get her-"

"No, Mao-chan, I'll go get her.", Hinata offered up quickly. She started walking out of the kitchen and Mao yelled to her.

"Hinata, go to the living room, up the stairs, and it should be in the hallway to the right! The only door!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Hinata followed Mao's directions, and walked though 'Memory Hall', which was her nickname for the hallway. She went to living room, and nearly passed out from the different smells of candles. She quickly skipped up the stairs and turned to the right. There was only door and on it had a sign that says 'A Cherry Blossom's Room'. Hinata knocked on the door and when there was no reply, she opened it.

Sakura's room was just as Hinata thought--pink. Pink walls, pink carpet, pink curtains, pink ceiling fan...Geez, so much pink! Hinata was nearly blinded. But her eyes quickly drifted to Sakura, who had tears running down her face. She was looking at some picture in her hands.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" Hinata asked. Sakura's head flew up from the picture and she tried to wipe her tears away.

"N-Nothings w-wrong, H-Hinata. What are you doing up here?" Sakura asked. She sniffled.

Hinata rushed over and gave Sakura a handkerchief that she had in the pocket of her sundress and Sakura took it and blew her nose. She attempted to give it back but Hinata refused and Sakura buried her face in it, wiping her tears off.

"Lunch is ready, but that's not really important right now. Sakura, were you crying because you couldn't fix the rice balls? If so, I can teach again some other time. But if you can't make those, we can always try something different." Hinata replied, and took Sakura's head in her hands and wiped her tears off with her thumbs.

"Don't tell Naruto, Hinata." Sakura said and she gestured towards the picture on her lap. It was of Team 7. Kakashi was smiling, his hands on Naruto and Sasuke's hands. Naruto was pouting and scowling at Sasuke and Sasuke was being angsty. Sakura stood out, her hands cupped near her face, eyes closed, bright smile lighting up the photo. "I miss Sasuke-kun. I know Naruto does, too, but, I love Sasuke. Even though he rejected me, I still love him. Hinata, why is that?"

Hinata shook her head. "No one ever said love was easy. It's an ocean that rocks. Sometimes it's above your head that you never notice it, yet when you finally get the courage to swim over its barrier, you find the gift beyond it. Love. Sometimes some people are so oblivious; they never notice the love they have until they lose it. I bet Sasuke-san feels the same way." Hinata stared off into another world while she said this, her mind thinking of a handsome blond man with beautiful blue eyes. She shook away her thoughts. "Someday, you will find someone that loves you for you and will never push you away. I'm not sure Sasuke-san is that person, but when his eyes are fully unclouded, maybe then he will realize what he is missing."

Sakura thought of what Hinata said, the words processing through her mind. She nodded and smiled and reached over and gave Hinata a huge hug. "Thank you, Hinata. I hope Naruto realizes how much you love him."

"I hope Sasuke-san's eyes are cleared soon. He needs your love, Sakura. The love he never realized he had."

Soon, the girls walked back down to the kitchen. Mao was sitting at the table, her hand propping her head up, eyes closed.

"Mom!' Sakura yelled. Mao's head shot up.

"Oh, there you are girls! I was starting to wonder if you to got lost up there!" Mao sighed and looked at the food on the table. "I hope this isn't cold. If it is, I'm going to have your heads!"

They laughed and sat down and to Hinata and Sakura's luck, it was not cold. They ate it up and chatted.

"So, I was wondering, who is that man in the photos in the hallway?" Hinata asked when they had hit a spot of silence.

"Oh, that's my Dad." Sakura replied. Mao looked away. "He died during the Kyuubi attack." Mao brought her fingers to her face, and touched her scar. Sakura looked down at the rice ball in her hand, a look on face that made Hinata think that she knew something Hinata didn't about the Kyuubi attack.

"I got this scar while we were fighting." Mao uttered silently. "He tried to rescue me, and he did, though I still got hurt. And he died and I have this scar to remind me of the sacrifice he made."

"I'm so sorry." Hinata said quietly.

Mao and Sakura looked back at her, a look of shock on their faces.

"You don't need to be, Hinata. It happened a long time ago. It's not that bad." Mao said.

Sakura smiled. "Though we miss Dad everyday, we will never regret what he did."

And they all smiled, and Hinata looked up at the ceiling.

"I can't remember ever hating summer days..."


End file.
